It Matters Little What You Say In Either Language

(I’m in Japan to study as an exchange student. I have a scar on my forehead from an accident as a kid, making people think I’m a delinquent.)

Teacher: “Can someone translate this phrase into English?”

Me: *raises hand* “Sure thing!”

(I proceed to translate it. The phrase is ‘It matters little what you say, it matters a lot what you do.’)

Teacher: “… Well, I’ll be.”

Classmate #1: “… Wait. You know English? FLUENTLY?”

Me: “Huh? Yeah. I’ve been taught it all my life.”

Classmate #2: “I thought you were just some generic delinquent!”

Classmate #3: *also a friend I have made* “You guys do realize that we’re in a class that tells us not to judge people by how they look, right?!”

Teacher: “To be honest, I also thought he was a delinquent… Guess it was a bad idea to think so!”

Classmate #3: “You tell us not to judge a person by how they look and yet you do the same despite being our teacher?!”

(At this point, I ended up laughing to myself so hard I had to leave the classroom for five minutes.)